We extended a Wi-Fi network over half a kilometre for less than R3,000 with impressive results

MyBroadband extended a Wi-Fi network with an Internet connection over 500 meters using an inexpensive point-to-point link.

The link was established between a townhouse and an office block in neighbouring suburbs, where there is a clear line of sight from the house’s roof and the office.

A clear line of sight is essential, as any obstacles can severely impact a wireless connection’s signal strength and link quality.

We used Ubiquiti NanoStation AC Loco transceivers, a part of Ubiquiti’s airMAX AC series.

These are compatible with standard AC-Wi-Fi equipment but can handle higher bandwidths when paired with other devices that support the airMAX protocol.

We had a relatively close connection, so we opted for the shorter-range NanoStation Loco instead of a more directional option like LiteBeam.

This makes setup easier, as the antennas do not have to be positioned as precisely, and these units still advertise a range of 10+ km.

As the NanoStation AC Loco devices can only be powered using Power over Ethernet (PoE), we added 2 Ubiquiti PoE adapters to our setup, bringing the total price to just under R3,000.

The setup was straightforward, as we could follow the setup guide, set one of the transceivers up as an access point, and repeat all the settings on the second device.

The second device then connected to the existing access point automatically.

We set the connection up as a simple bridge, but more advanced options are also available.

Mounting the antennas was very simple, as they have integrated pole mounts and include a big zip-tie to wrap around any suitable pole.

The antenna on the house was attached to the existing satellite dish mount, and at the office, we attached it to an outside window by repurposing a windscreen suction cup mount for a smartphone.

The single Ethernet cable makes the wiring a breeze and allows you to keep the PoE injector and other network equipment in a more suitable spot.

Once we mounted both antennas, the link was automatically established, and everything worked.

We played around with bandwidth and frequency settings, as well as fine-tuning the directions of the antennas, but this made little difference to the connection.

We already had a consistent capacity of around 400 Mbps in either direction, according to the Ubiquity interface. 

However, this slows down somewhat when data is transmitted in both directions, resulting in an Internet connection of around 340 Mbps in the office, compared to 420 Mbps at the house. 

We set up an old Wi-Fi router as an access point on the remote side, and there is very little evidence that this is not a regular fibre Internet connection.

According to the built-in tools, the link only has a latency of around 1.3 ms, which is negligible for a wireless connection.

File transfers are generally more restricted by the remote Wi-Fi connection than the point-to-point link, as using a wired connection into the remote side gave us similar speeds to the local connection.

We were impressed with the ease of setup and overall link quality for the price, as we expected way more problems.

We also tested the connection during a heavy storm and did not notice any change to speeds or latency, but this may not be the case for a link over a larger distance.